1954-75: Two years became 20 for a divided Vietnam

HANOI - Vietnam's north-south political division, which existed until Saigon fell 30 years ago on April 30, 1975, stemmed from the July 1954 Geneva accords which envisaged two years' separation.
After the French defeat at Dien Bien Phu in May 1954 at the hands of communist forces led by Ho Chi Minh, an international conference was called in Geneva.
France, Britain, the United States, China and the then Soviet Union were represented along with the three Indo-Chinese countries of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.
The international agreement sealing Vietnam's independence and the end of French colonialism in Indo-China led to a ceasefire and created two distinct Vietnamese entities, meant to be reunited in just two years.
Put together by France and China, the agreement divided Vietnam along the 17th parallel, just above the city of Hue. It was to have been followed by a political accord hammered out through national elections.
The pro-American Republic of South Vietnam was put in charge of the southern half. In the north, the communist Democratic Republic of Vietnam was recognised as the legitimate government and agreed to pull back its forces from the south.
But the agreement soon fell apart.
The United States and the southern Vietnamese rejected the Geneva accord. At the end of two years, in 1956, South Vietnam's president Ngo Dinh Diem refused to call elections because he was convinced communist leader Ho Chi Minh would win.
A year later, communist insurgents resumed action against the Diem regime's forces.
Against the backdrop of the Cold War, Vietnam became a theatre of big power confrontation. The United States backed South Vietnam while China and the Soviet Union supported the North.
Washington began sending troops to Vietnam from 1965, followed by allies including Australia, South Korea and Thailand. About 58,000 Americans died in the war, while the two Vietnams lost three million people.
In 1973, the Paris Accords provided for an end to US military intervention in Vietnam, but the Vietnamese sides continued fighting.
The fall of the South Vietnamese capital Saigon to communist forces on April 30, 1975, led to the country's reunification. Hanoi was made the capital.
Political reunification was formally announced on July 2, 1976 and Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City.

04/27/2005 05:03 GMT